The A627 (M) was built as a 'principal road' motorway linking the towns of Rochdale and Oldham with the Lancashire-Yorkshire Motorway M62, and with each other. As distinct from a 'trunk road' motorway for which the Minister is responsible, a 'principal road' motorway has a Local Authority as the 'highway authority', with the project normally attracting a 75% grant from Central Government. The length between the M62 and Chadderton was, however, considered to be of sufficient importance to warrant a 100% grant, as a 'potential trunk road'.

The outstanding feature of the 6½ mile section of the motorway south from Horwich was the construction of the Worsley Braided Interchange, connecting the M61 with the M62, A580 (East Lancashire Road) and the A666 (M) Kearsley Spur.

In the 1960's, Vauxhall Motors decided to build a car factory at Hooton, Ellesmere Port, on the site of a disused airfield. However, the existing road access was totally inadequate.
A new road network was required within the immediate area, to serve the development. Not only was it essential for the supply of raw materials, and as a reasonable means of access for employees, but it was required also for the delivery of finished vehicles to markets in all parts of the country and abroad.

The Road Plan for Lancashire 1949 included a number of 'second Group Routes', with one of their junctions defined as connecting large towns to a 'first Group Route'. A 'link' to Blackpool from the proposed North-South Motorway was such a route, with the intention that it should be designed and constructed as a 'motorway'.

The need for a high standard modern road south of the River Mersey between the Merseyside and Manchester Conurbations was foreseen many years ago. Such a road was included in the Chapman Plan for Cheshire published in 1947, and the County Development Plan of 1958 defined a line agreed between the County Council and the Ministry Transport.

A proposal for Liverpool Outer Ring Road, extending from Sefton Town in the North to Gatacre in the South, was included in the 1949 Road Plan for Lancashire. It was to comprise lengths of new all-purpose road together with the substantial widening of existing roads.

The Road Plan for Lancashire 1949 contained proposals for improvements to the road network which included proposed by-passes of Up Holland and Skelmersdale. On confirmation of the choice of Skelmersdale for the site of a New Town, in the early 1960's, the line of Route 215 was drastically revised to form a continuous new route south of the New Town including a junction with the M6 at Orrell with proposals for its extension to the M61.

The M6 is the longest motorway in the UK, extending from Catthorpe (Junction 19 on the M1) to the Scottish border, north of Carlisle. It includes the first section of motorway constructed in the UK, the Preston by-pass, which opened in December 1958. Exactly 50 years later, the final section of the M6, between Carlisle and the Scottish border, was opened.

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In 1955, it was reported that the County Surveyor had carried out some preliminary work on the design of the motorway within Cheshire. Further investigations were undertaken and, in May 1957, representations were made to the Ministry of Transport for the County Council to be appointed as Agents for the whole of the length between the adjoining County boundaries.Read more

In June 1958, while the Preston and Lancaster By-passes were under construction, the route of the 27 miles of motorway between Thelwall and Preston, bypassing Warrington on the east and Wigan on the west, was confirmed. Two major bridges were required - the thirty-six span Thelwall Bridge (commonly known as the Thelwall Viaduct), over the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey and the six-span Gathurst viaduct across the Douglas valley west of Wigan. Read more

In the mid-1940's, Drake had obtained the approval of Lancashire County Council to proceed with the preparation and preliminary design work for the North-South motorway through the County. It was found that the basic alignment, as envisaged in 1937, was still appropriate and only comparatively minor adjustments had to be made. It was realised, however, that economic factors made it impracticable to embark on the construction of the whole of the motorway as a single project. In 1952, therefore, consideration was given to the possibility of constructing those sections of the motorway by-passing Lancaster and Preston, in order to relieve the serious traffic congestion and reduce the number of accidents within those conurbations.Read more

The sections of the M6 through Lancashire, which had been completed earlier, provided By-passes of major centres of population. The section between Preston and Lancaster, however, was to have the effect of superseding a substantial length of the A6, where due to its unsatisfactory alignment, and the large number of junctions serving local traffic, congestion and the number of serious accidents had increased to an alarming extent. It would also close the gap in the M6 between Stafford and the northern end of Lancaster By-pass and increase its continuous length to 111 miles.Read more

The construction of the 11½ mile Lancaster By-pass section of the M6, the County Council's second priority, had followed a year after the work on Preston By-pass had started. In many respects, it was similar, for example, it would also have dual two-lane carriageways with a wide central reservation for the future addition of third lanes.Read more

The various small-scale plans proposed during the 1930s for a network of motorways showed a line for the North-South route through Westmorland. It was, however, diagrammatic in that no detailed investigations had been carried out at that time.Read more

The Market Town of Penrith and the City of Carlisle had long been in need of relief from traffic congestion. Apart from the effect of local traffic movement, they both lay at the junction of major traffic routes. The most important factor, however, was the influence of the London-Carlisle-Glasgow-Inverness Trunk Road A6 passing through the centre of the two urban areas.Read more

As these two Sections of the M6 were constructed within the same timescale, they are considered together. The initial survey, preparation and design was undertaken by the Cumberland County Council as the Minister's Agent Authority. The North Western Road Construction Unit (RCU) was formed on the 1 April 1967. Read more

East of Warrington, the A57 is a County road and passes through the centre of the Borough of Eccles, to the boundary with the City of Salford. The 1949 Road Plan for Lancashire included a proposal for improving the road in the Borough to a dual two-lane standard, but it was recognised that this would require extensive property demolition.

The 1949 Road Plan had proposed an Express Route between Manchester and Preston, to be achieved by improving sections of the A6 and constructing several town and village bypasses. However, by the early 1960's it became evident that there was a strong case for building a motorway, linking the proposed M62 at Worsley with the M6 near Preston.

In the late 1930's, as part of a national plan, it had been envisaged that a new road would be constructed from Liverpool to Hull, linking these ports with the industrial areas of South Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.

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During the 1930's the need for a fast road route across the Pennines had been the subject of much discussion between the highway authorities in Lancashire and Yorkshire. It was eventually agreed that it would be an extension of the East Lancashire Road, but little positive action was taken before the War, except for the reservation of land for the future construction of an all-purpose road, then known as the Yorkshire Branch Road.Read more

Proposals for a new route along the Calder Valley did not feature in the Road Plan for Lancashire 1949. Several reasons account for this, namely that, i) it was envisaged that, the Liverpool-Leeds Trunk Road A59 along the Ribble Valley, to the north of the Calder Valley, would be improved by the provision of local by-passes of places such as Clitheroe and Whalley, and ii) historically the textile manufacturing towns of North East Lancashire had a close relationship with Manchester, as the commercial centre for the industry and, therefore, improved north-south communications were of greater significance.

Route 9 in the Road Plan for Lancashire 1949 was described as 'tapping the industrial area of East Lancashire north of Manchester'. It was intended to replace the A56 as far as the northern termination of the proposed Bury By-pass, it would follow the existing A56 Trunk Road to Edenfield, and then the A680 corridor to its junction with Route 8 near Whalley. Haslingden would be by-passed. Burnley and Blackburn traffic would connect with the Route at Edenfield and Haslingden respectively.

The A57 Trunk Road from Denton to Mottram-in-Longendale had been seen to be in need of improvement for many years and proposals for its upgrading go back to the inter-War period. In 1965 the Ministry of Transport asked Sir William Halcrow & Partners to report on a route selected by the County Surveyor of Cheshire and this led, in stages, to the development of the design to partial urban and partial rural motorway standards. Its place in the system of motorways around Manchester is that of a radial route in an easterly direction from the Manchester Outer Ring Road, to which it would eventually be connected via the proposed Denton Relief Road. It was the intention that, in due course, the motorway would be extended as an improved route through to Sheffield.

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This website is based on the Executive Summary for the North West Region. Further information about the Executive Summary can be seen on the "about Motorway Archive" page. The Executive Summary is itself based on a series of mini-archives, each covering a section of motorway within the Region. They are deposited in the County Record Offices at Chester, Preston, Kendal and Carlisle and contain

written material prepared by a number of those personnel who were directly involved in the development of the motorway network

various documents and

lists of other relevant documents held in establishments elsewhere

The Counties within the Region, as referred to in the Summaries, are the historic geographical Counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Lancashire and Westmorland.

The individual summaries, describe the various motorways within the Region. Where the work was carried out in distinct sections, these also follow in chronological order.

The description in each case includes:

a brief history

the name of the organisation which undertook the design and supervision of construction, viz County Council, Sub-Unit of the North Western Road Construction Unit, firm of Consulting Engineers, or British Rail

the basic facts, eg length, number of bridges

matters of particular significance in its design and construction

The amount of space allocated to each motorway does not necessarily reflect the magnitude of the work involved, or its importance in the development of the network.

In most cases, the Tender figure for each Contract can be found in the Opening Brochure, or other documentation deposited in the relevant Records Office. No attempt has been made to identify the total cost of each section of motorway, which would not only include the amount of the final payment to the Contractors, but also ex-Contract items such as the expenditure on land acquisition and compensation, design and supervision, and the diversion of mains and services. Even it all this information was readily available, it would not be appropriate to make cost comparisons, due to the effect of inflation during the period of over 40 years of motorway construction, within the Region.

The construction of the network was carried out by a large number of different firms of Contractors and Sub-Contractors. They are too numerous for all to be mentioned in the Summary, but the Principal Main Contractors are listed in an Appendix. Information on the various Contracts can be found in Opening Brochures, where these are available.